Pre-tied ready rigs
Why tie your own?
These days the quality of pre-tied hook lengths is excellent. Preston and Guru have taken these to a new level over recent years and I haven't tied my own for several years now. There is no point the quality of the different ranges are far better than I can tie anyway and working full time I don't really have the time to tie my own. There are many different options to cater for all applications, heavy, medium and light hooks for different times of the year and tied to realistic line diameter options. I use 6 inch (15cm) Preston GPM's, SFL's , Guru's SLWG's , F1 Pellet, and XS Carp ready rigs for all my pole rigs now and the Preston 15 inch (30cm) KKM-B Readys rigs for Bomb and pellet waggler set ups. The 4 inch (10cm) options or for Method/Pellet feeder rigs. These all come with banded or with quick stops options
Why tie your own?
I'm tending to favour the Preston Ready rigs now as you can buy them on a rig stick that slot straight into the Mag Store System boxes. The Guru ones can also be stored onto a blank stick stick and put straight into the box, they fit perfectly.
Years ago anglers had to spend many hours tying up hook lengths to cater for all options and many still do but for me, things have moved on and the quality of these pre tied hook lengths really are the business, making hook tying redundant.
stotz's
A very small item of tackle, but not to be over looked!
Stotz are a hybrid shot designed for use on larger diameter lines (they also work perfectly on fine diameters too). The wide groove makes placing them on the line quick and easy. Another advantage is the increased surface area that grips the line. This prevents damage and also stops the Stotz pinging off under stress. The flat ends of Stotz produce a neat bulk when they are grouped together.
The big beneift to me when tying up rigs, especially F1 rigs where no.11,12,13 sizes may be needed is that Stotz's are so much easier to apply to the line and makes rig tying a lot easier than using normal split shot. A must have item of tackle in my venue!